Counting the cost of the floods

An area the size of Germany and France combined is still underwater in Queensland as devastating floods ravage communities across the state.

While some of the flood affected regions are now in recovery mode, Rockhampton in central Queensland remains on high alert as the Fitzroy River continues to rise.

The floods have closed roads, ports, and disrupted agriculture, coal and transport industries.

And authorities are warning towns could be underwater for more than a week.

Program director of the Grattan Institute, Saul Eslake says the economic impact for the state will be devastating.

"It will hit in a number of ways, although it's perhaps too early to put a precise figure on the economic impact.

"The biggest short term impact in terms of dollars is the disruption to coal exports, and some figures put that at $400 million dollars a week," he says.

Coal

Australia is the world's largest coal exporter and the state of Queensland is the main supplier of the sort-after commodity.

The Australian Coal Association says the nation supplies more than 30 countries across the world with its biggest markets being Japan and South Korea.

And the impact of these disruptions to the coal industry could be felt for some time yet.

Many of the main railway lines used to transport coal in central Queensland have been submerged in water and Mr Eslake says the industry will pick up when the railways are able to move coal out of the mines.

"When people will be able to get back to work and the back log of ships off Port Dalrymple and Bowen is cleared."

Agriculture

The impact is also being felt among the many agricultural producers of Queensland who have lost livestock and crops in the disaster.

Mr Eslake estimates the loss to agriculture is the second biggest for the QLD economy.

"Agforce puts (the loss) at around one billion dollars. That includes wiping out of horticultural crops, vegetables and fruit; cotton, grains, wheat, barley and of course the sugar crop especially south of Mackay and around Bundaberg," he says.

Overnight, one thousand tonnes of lychees, mangoes and pineapples where transported by barrage out of Queensland to southern markets but the impact is sure to be felt around Australia with food prices estimated to rise by as much as 50 per cent due to the crop losses that are being experienced.

Homes and Businesses destroyed

Central business districts have been destroyed, many shops have suffered stock losses and Mr Eslake says that will contribute to the overall economic impact.

"Another source of damage is damage done to businesses, that is premises that have been adversely affected by flood watered, the loss of stock and loss of sales, because people aren't in town, and the wages of employees who can't get to work.

He says the incalculable cost is the damage done to people's houses.

"That could be quite substantial, and some of it we hear around low lying areas in Rockhampton is not covered by insurance.

"The cost of these figures is being put at between a quarter and a half a per cent of Australia's national income, which would be between 3 and 6 billion dollars," he says.

However, Mr Eslake says the rebuilding of infrastructure, homes and business will be a positive contribution to the economy over time.

"People and businesses will be able to get access to insurance pay outs or state government grants, disaster relief and the like, and as they spend that money, rebuilding...that's money that will flow out into other businesses and ultimately provide stimulus to the economy.

Social impacts

Throughout the disaster, hundreds of families have been evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night, leaving little time to gather personal belongings, which psychologist say will make returning once flood waters have receded very traumatic.

Rob Gordon is a clinical psychologist who specialises in the management of people's emotional response to disasters.

He says it's important for people to recognise that everyone goes into a state of survival mode during this time of disaster, and that people fall out of routine.

Dr Gordon says that in the short term this is not a problem, but the longer that goes for it creates problems in relationships.

"People don't feel as though they understand their other family members, and a lot of what's happening now sets up some of the really difficult problems, not just the immediate but the long hard haul of the recovery process of getting life back on track.

Dr Gordon says that it's important for people to feel that they can let others know how they're feeling.

"It's to give them an understanding of what's going on, but it's important for people to talk about how they're feeling if they can.

And with children, Dr Gordon says it's important to let them know what's going on in simple terms.

"Children are in touch with what's real in the family. It doesn't matter what kind of a front you put up, kids are in engaged with what's really happening.

"If there's a difference between how people seem and what's really happening then people feel disoriented, they feel insecure and life doesn't make sense," he says.

Although natural disasters like floods are no new phenomenon for Australian communities, they can still hit communities hard, psychologically, Dr Gordon says.

"Most people recover well from disasters but it generally takes a few years.

"The recovery time is going to be somewhere between 3 -5 years...it doesn't mean you'll feel terrible all the time but by the time things are replaced and economic circumstances are back on track.

Dr Gordon says there are four main indicators of what is going to cause people to need additional support.

1. How bad the experience was on the day: the trauma factor.

2. The degree of loss: material loss, loss of resources and financial loss.3. Problems encountered during recovery period, i.e, how isolated someone is, compared to someone with a good support network around them.4. Other unrelated problems to recovery that put extra pressure on someone in a time of crisis.

He says the main message is don't wait until you break down.

"Let people help you along the way."

Help

Financial support

Immediate assistance is available from the Federal Government through Centrelink.

For the Emergency Recovery Payment of $1000 per adult and $400 per child, call 180 22 66.

Additional support is now available in larger payments if 'your home has been destroyed or sustained major damage'.

To apply for this Recovery Payment call 1800 173 349.

Small grants are now available for small business and primary producers of up to $25,000. To apply call 1800 623 946.

If you are experiencing hardship throughout the flooding events around Queensland and would like to talk to someone you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 (available 24 hours a day).

If you're not affected directly by the floods and you're wondering what you can do, we've compiled a list of ways you can help.